Home Page

Oregon POLST Program

Designed to improve the quality of care people receive near the end-of-life, the Oregon POLST® Program is based on effective communication of patient wishes, documentation of portable orders for life-sustaining treatments and promise by a health care professional to honor these wishes.

Research News

Oregon becomes the first state to remove feeding tubes from POLST forms

On January 2, 2019, Oregon became the first state to remove artificially administered nutrition from their POLST form. A recently published article in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society discusses the reasoning for this significant revision and provides a recommendation for other state POLST programs to consider. (J Am Geriatr Soc. 2019 Jan 31, https://doi.org/10.1111/jgs.15775)

A new study in the Journal of Palliative Medicine compared POLST use, the timing of POLST completion, and treatment orders in two Oregon POLST Registry decedent cohorts. The findings indicate that the "surprise question" may not be appropriate for patients with Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s who often complete POLST forms earlier in their disease than during their final year of life. (J Palliat Med. 2018 Nov 21, https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/10.1089/jpm.2018.0446)

2019 Oregon POLST Program Updates

2019 Oregon POLST Form Now Available

The 2019 Oregon POLST form (version 13) became effective on January 2, 2019. The Coalition asks that all health systems implement the use of the 2019 form by April 8, 2019. The summary of the changes can be found here and in the Oregon POLST Professional Resource Library. The 2019 form is available to order online and entities interested in printing their own forms should contact the Oregon POLST Program at polst@ohsu.edu.

Updated POLST Guidebook for Health Care Professionals

The Oregon POLST Education Committee has substantially revised the POLST Guidebook for Health Care Professionals. The downloadable guidebook can be viewed here and in the POLST ProfessionalResource Library.

New POLST Video

"POLST: When is the Right Time?" This 3-minute video illustrates changes in Betty's life by showing the completion of an advance directive when healthy and a POLST when she becomes seriously ill. All POLST videos are available on our Resource Library pages and on the Oregon POLST YouTube Channel.

Program Update

The Oregon POLST Coalition has withdrawn from the National POLST Paradigm to reaffirm values avoiding conflicts of interest. Read the full statement here.